Florida law limits injured worker’s lawyer’s fees, but not employers’ or Insurance company lawyers’ bills

As a member of the Florida Bar, I keep up with legal developments in the “Sunshine State.”  At Abrams Landau, Ltd., we have represented many clients who are residents of, or were injured in, Florida.  Tort Reform in 2003 limited the amounts that could be charged by the injured workers’ legal counsel.  However, this “Tort Deform” did not limit how much money the insurance companies and employers could pay their lawyers.  This 5-year-old law severely limits the abilities of plaintiff’s lawyers to recoup fees even for cases they win.  There are no limits to what defense lawyers can charge, and their fees are NOT contingent upon the outcome !

This law is currently being challenged by the case of Murray vs. Mariner Health.  The injured workers lawyer successfully won benefits previously denied his client, Emma Murray.  The injured worker was a nurse who was injured while lifting a patient.  Nurse Murray’s lawyer put in approximately 80 hours in order to win the case, yet his fees were limited to about $650.00.  The claimant’s lawyer took on the case, risked getting nothing if he lost, and, after winning, got paid about $8.00 an hour.  Do you think any defense lawyer would work on a contingent fee case for $8.00 an hour ?  The case is pending before the Florida Supreme Court.  Because the case involves a state administrative law system, it can likely not go up to the United States Supreme Court, of which I am also a member.  I hope for the Florida workers compensation claimants’ lawyers’ sake that the state Supreme Court changes this unjust law.